Get arms to defend against bandits, Kebbi emir urges residents

An influential traditional ruler in northwestern Nigeria’s Kebbi state on Friday urged residents to pool funds and buy weapons to defend themselves against attacks by criminal gangs.

Parts of Kebbi State have seen sporadic attacks from jihadists and criminal gangs in recent years, with analysts blaming the Lakurawa jihadist group for some of the deadly violence.

The non-ideological gangs of criminals, known locally as bandits, kidnap travellers on highways, raid villages, abduct residents and loot homes before burning them.

The emergence of Lakurawa, aligned with jihadists in the wider Sahel, has worsened violence in the region.

In a five-minute online video seen by AFP, Samaila Muhammad Mera, the emir of Argungu, urged dozens of local chiefs in his territory to procure arms to defend their communities.

“The government is overwhelmed, you should use the weapons to protect your homes and property from attacks,” Mera said at the meeting.

While Nigeria’s hundreds of traditional rulers have no constitutional powers and rely on regional governments for funding, they are important cultural custodians who wield enormous influence over their subjects.

“Every community should stockpile arms to defend themselves,” Mera told the chiefs sat on the carpeted floor of a hall.

“You should pool money, buy weapons to protect your communities,” the monarch said, “even if it means laying down our lives.”

Mera is the most prominent traditional chief in Kebbi state thanks to the annual fishing festival in Argungu, a cultural attraction which has drawn tourists from all over the world for years.

Insecurity and funding shortages have reduced the UNESCO-listed festival to an occasional celebration — a full edition was held earlier this year after a six-year pause.

Tired of incessant bandit attacks, many farming and herding communities in northern states hit by banditry have resorted to forming vigilante groups.

The vigilantes are also accused of carrying out extrajudicial killings of suspected bandits, prompting reprisals by the criminal gangs and creating a cycle of tit-for-tat killings.

This led state governments to ban the vigilantes and replace them with community protection personnel trained and paid for by the authorities.

Mera’s intervention is not the first time an influential figure in northern Nigeria has called on people to take up arms in self-defence against bandits.

In August 2021, Aminu Bello Masari, at the time the governor of Katsina state, called on residents in areas prone to banditry to buy weapons and defend themselves from attacks.

In December 2020, Attahiru Muhammad Ahmad, the highest-ranking traditional chief in neighbouring Zamfara, the state hardest hit by bandit violence, appealed to the government to allow people to carry weapons to protect themselves.